SECOND TEAM

Takumi Sado Daiwa Securities Group

In second place for a second straight year is Daiwa Securities Group researcher Takumi Sado, who, according to one money manager “is reliable on the fundamentals.” Sado upgraded Murata Manufacturing Co. from neutral to outperform in July, at ¥4,270, on the rising market share of the Kyoto-based capacitor manufacturer. By the end of February, the stock had bolted to ¥6,080, soaring 42.4 percent and besting the sector by 25.7 percentage points. Another July upgrade didn’t work out so well, however. Sado urged clients to buy shares of Kyoto’s Kyocera Corp., a maker of LCD parts, in anticipation of strong growth. The shares advanced only 9.3 percent through February, 5.3 points behind the sector.

Polling and tabulation of data as well as reporting on the sector profiles were completed before the March 11 Tohoku earthquake.